Master of team management, elegantly commanding a powerful company and setting the pace in a male-dominated field: Meet February 2011's Spotlight Julie Edmonds.
Nobody
expects a powerful CEO to trip on her way into the boardroom, but Julie
Edmonds laughs as she admits that it's happened more than once. And
when it has, she's used it to her advantage- as an icebreaker before
closing a deal. It's all in the attitude. And she has the number to back it up.
You
may not have heard of her company, LNE Consulting, Inc. but you’ve
probably seen some of Julie’s work. Platforming behind the scenes for 5
Fortune 1000 clients, her highly trained corporate sales teams in 24
offices from Arizona to New York reach over 7,500 businesses daily. LNE
brought home 10 and a half million dollars in sales this year and is
projected to triple within 5 years under her leadership. Outsourced
sales is like corporate match-making- so Julie leverages her naturally
feminine strengths to set the pace in this industry- one that is
typically dominated by male leaders.
Discipline, priorities, balance
Coordinating
5 major platforms, Julie puts in hours of negotiations and face time
every day. Her role is well-suited for her as an innate people-person
but it also requires some serious emotional discipline and prioritizing.
Her employees respect her as a boss that leads them to hit company
goals and
they value her as a coach that pushes them to set and meet their own
personal goals. Her discipline also protects her balanced personal
life: while her clients consider her a crucial part of their advertising
platforms, she still makes it home to her two children and husband, who
she considers her best friend, every night.
We chose Julie for February’s Spotlight because we wanted to know how she pulls it all off.
With the right attitude and work ethic
In
her charming Southern accent, Julie explains how she attributes her
success to the choices she’s made along her career journey- and how she
believes that anyone with the right attitude and work ethic can make the
same choices and commit to being successful.
“It’s all about finding your personal magic,” she says.
Choosing
to be successful and finding magic sounded pretty cool to us- so as she
walked us through her career journey- we took notes.
Brandy Kuentzel gained the reputation of being one of the most proficient and popular candidates ever to have competed on The Apprentice. But her popularity didn't come from trying to please everyone. It came from consistently being a straight-shooter, respecting people and staying focused on the tasks. The night the finale of Donald Trump's The Apprentice aired on NBC, the update in a news article from Anchorage, Alaska where Brandy grew up was just like her: to the point and powerful. It was simply: "She won."
Bottom line: Brandy the Apprentice is a master of elegance under pressure and staying focused on success. Read more aboutBrandy Kuentzelin January's Spotlight
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...
"In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock." ~T.Jefferson
Cosmopolitan featured Julie as a fun, fearless female in 1998...
Photo credit: Cosmopolitan circa 1998
"In
less than a year," Cosmo reported, "the 27-year-old mogul is already pulling down a high
six-figure salary and commanding a staff of 55."
The funny thing- she was quoted later in the article saying, "I made tons of
mistakes but wouldn't let myself become discouraged. I just tried to learn
from them and move on," which she still lives by today.
"I'm not about taking life too seriously," Julie still says today. " There's a time to be serious. I'm serious about goals."
But about getting to those goals? Minor setbacks don't hinder her pursuit of the big picture. She's not afraid to laugh at herself.
"When it comes to getting there," she says, "I have to let things roll off. Everything is a stepping stone."
Do you know a professional woman who leverages her feminine strengths to gain respect and make things happen?
Nominate her for an upcoming Spotlight- we want to talk to her!
